Mississippi River

Place Unit Type
Rivers/Waterways
Containing Unit
Date Type
A steamboat burns to the waterline on the Mississippi but all aboard have a lucky escape. Crime/Disasters
Captain Charles H. Davis replaces Commodore A.H. Foote as commander of the Union's Mississippi Flotilla Battles/Soldiers
Commercial ice-boat begins operation in Wisconsin on the Upper Mississippi Business/Industry
Confederate naval units stage a dawn attack on the U.S. Navy squadron blockading New Orleans Battles/Soldiers
First railroad bridge across the Mississippi River completed Business/Industry
First railroad that will run west of the Mississippi is incorporated Business/Industry
In Louisiana, General N.P. Banks accepts the surrender of Port Hudson after a seven week siege Battles/Soldiers
In St. Louis, a second day of shifting ice on the Mississippi River crushes seven more river boats. Crime/Disasters
Louisiana militia seize Forts Saint Philip and Jackson at the mouth of the Mississippi River Battles/Soldiers
Louisville to New Orleans steamboat burns near Uniontown, Kentucky and eight die Crime/Disasters
Mississippi militia at Vicksburg fire warning shots across bows of Cincinnati to New Orleans riverboat Battles/Soldiers
Mississippi steamboat catches fire in the middle of the night and forty-three people are drowned. Crime/Disasters
Natchez, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. Navy gunboats Battles/Soldiers
Near Island 16 in the Mississippi, a riverboat is destroyed by fire and twenty-five lives lost Crime/Disasters
On the Kentucky Bend of the Mississippi, Island Number Ten falls to Union army and navy forces Battles/Soldiers
On the Mississippi, a steamboat explosion kills up to ten people, including Ohio infantrymen heading home Crime/Disasters
On the Mississippi, captain and crew of Confederate steamboat defect to the Union Battles/Soldiers
Scores die when a Mississippi steamboat explodes and burns near Cairo, Illinois Crime/Disasters
Sharp half-hour naval engagement on the Mississippi River below Fort Pillow in Tennessee Battles/Soldiers
Shifting ice on the frozen Mississippi River again crushes river boats on the St. Louis, Missouri levee Crime/Disasters
Shifting ice on the frozen Mississippi River crushes seven river boats on the St. Louis, Missouri levee Crime/Disasters
Steamboat burns on the Mississippi below St. Louis and sixteen people are killed Crime/Disasters
Steamboat disaster on the Mississippi River with scores dead Crime/Disasters
Steamboat founders on the Mississippi Crime/Disasters
Steamboat with a cargo of sugar and coffee snags and sinks on the Mississippi Crime/Disasters
Steamer from St. Louis to New Orleans attacked below Vicksburg, Mississippi Battles/Soldiers
- The U.S.S. Carondelet makes her daring night run past the Confederate blockade on the Mississippi Battles/Soldiers
Two steamboats collide on the Mississippi River above Memphis, one sinks in minutes Crime/Disasters
U.S. Navy gunboats demand the surrender of Natchez, Mississippi Battles/Soldiers
- Union soldiers and sailors carry out a daring night raid on Confederate defenses near Island Number Ten Battles/Soldiers
- Weeks of heavy rainfall bring serious flooding to the upper Mississippi Crime/Disasters
Date Title
Debate over the Estimates for Rivers and Harbors, House of Representatives, January 6, 1854
Chicago (IL) Times, “The Campaign – The Last Joint Debate,” October 17, 1858
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “Quick,” January 2, 1859
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “Russia and America,” March 20, 1859
Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Flood in the Upper Mississippi,” May 6, 1859
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “Levee Convention,” June 12, 1859
New York Times, “A Shabby Trick,” October 11, 1859
William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, November 23, 1860
New York Herald, “The Blockade of the Mississippi River,” January 27, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “From the West,” June 24, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “What is a Blockade?,” July 25, 1861
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Reform,” August 21, 1861
Gen. John Fremont, Declaration of Martial Law in Missouri, August 30, 1861
Flag Officer A.H. Foote, USN to Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, Report on the Battle of Belmont, November 9, 1861
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, December 6, 1862
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, January 22, 1863
- Recollection by Ulysses S. Grant, Siege of Vicksburg, May – July 4, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, May 29, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, June 17, 1863
New Haven (NH) Palladium,“Port Hudson,” July 16, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, July 18, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, October 2, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, December 15, 1863
Willard P. Hall to Abraham Lincoln, May 12, 1864
How to Cite This Page: "Mississippi River," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/23350.